Iwájú (Disney+ Series)

[rodrigo_ca]

In a first-of-its-kind collaboration, @DisneyAnimation and Pan-African entertainment company Kugali will team up to create an all-new, science fiction series coming to @DisneyPlus in 2022: Iwájú. Check out a first look at visual development art from the series.

https://twitter.com/Disney/status/1337191027539636225

Iwájú is an all-new original series coming to Disney+ in 2022. The series is a first-of-its-kind collaboration between Walt Disney Animation Studios and Pan-African comic book entertainment company Kugali and its founders Tolu Olowofoyeku, Ziki Nelson and Hamid Ibrahim. Iwájú, which roughly translates to “The Future” in the Yoruba language, is steeped in science fiction. The long-form series is set in Lagos, Nigeria, exploring deep themes of class, innocence and challenging the status quo. Says director Ziki Nelson, “This show will combine Disney’s magic and animation expertise with Kugali’s fire and storytelling authenticity. Iwájúrepresents a personal childhood dream of mine to tell my story and that of my people.

[DisneyFan09]

Well, I like the designs of the two leads. They look actually quite good.

[blackcauldron85]

Thanks for posting the plot description- I saw the presentation but wasn't sure what this was about. I am here for the sci-fi future aspect of this for sure. The girl reminds me of a princess with that dress, but of course who knows!

[tsom]

This is so exciting, especially since it's set in Lagos, Nigeria! I can't wait!

[Farerb]

High hopes for this. This is what WDAS D+ series should be like.

[Jules]

Having WDAS collaborate with another studio is truly novel and exciting. I wonder how duties will be split up between the two studios. Will WDAS do the actual animation or will Kugali do that?

I actually haven't yet researched whether Kugali is an animation studio or something else.

[rodrigo_ca]

According to their website "Kugali is an entertainment company that focuses on telling stories inspired by African Culture using comic books, art and Augmented reality. These are stories that respect the history, embrace the present and imagine a future of Africa". Another section calls Kugali "the largest African comic book publisher".

[UmbrellaFish]

Oh wait

This is from WDAS??? An original long form series??? With an interesting and unique concept??? Count me in!!!

[TheSequelOfDisney]

This is the really only interesting announcement for me, and I don't even have Disney+. It's nice to see an original project that isn't based off a preexisting property.

[Sotiris]

How is this collaboration going to work exactly? Is WDAS providing the story and Kugali animating it? Is it the other way around? Is it both? Personally, I don't like that WDAS is partnering with another studio on a project. They should have either produced this on their own or Kugali should have on their own and then sold it to Disney Plus. I think this muddles the identity of WDAS and dilutes its brand. Pixar isn't collaborating with anyone else on any of their projects. Why does WDAS need to?

[blackcauldron85]

^ Laughing Place posted a quote from the director:

Director Ziki Nelson: “This show will combine Disney’s magic and animation expertise with Kugali’s fire and storytelling authenticity. Iwájú represents a personal childhood dream of mine to tell my story and that of my people.”

So I guess Disney is providing the animation...? Unless he meant that WDAS is training Kugali's team, but I'm leaning more towards the former...

[estefan]

I'm looking at this from the perspective of Kugali, who went from being a Nigerian comic book company largely unknown to the rest of the world to getting the chance to see their project come to life with one of the most cherished and storied animation studios. They are about to get a much bigger audience and so many will learn and be inspired by them and I think that's really neat.

As for whether this collaboration will be a detriment to WDAS, I don't think so. Studio Ghibli recently co-produced "The Red Turtle" with an outside studio. Hayao Miyazaki even personally asked to collaborate with Michael Dudok de Wit on said movie, because of how much he admired his work. The final result ended up being highly acclaimed and considered another worthy addition to the Ghibli library.

[Sotiris]

So I guess Disney is providing the animation...?

Yes, it seems WDAS is providing the animation. It's a darn shame that WDAS has been reduced to an outsourcing studio. If they wanted to make a show set in Africa, there are plenty of Black creatives at WDAS that could have come up with a story and developed it internally. There was no need for such a "collaboration".

VFX Supervisor at Walt Disney Animation Studios.

Source: https://twitter.com/marlonw/

So. I can finally say I have a new job, VFX Supervisor on this series.

Source: https://twitter.com/marlonw/status/1337224093913923585

Q: So tell us about Iwájú and the collaboration between Walt Disney Animation Studios and Kugali.

Marlon West: I'm really thrilled to be working with the leaders of Kugali to make Iwájú. It's a show that's set in Lagos, Nigeria, maybe 50 to 100 years in the future. We're not being very specific about it. We're just here to help tell their story. [...] We have filmmakers that are African. Two of them are from Lagos where the story is set, one of them is from Uganda, and they are actually making an African story for Africans. There's Yoruba language in it, there's pidgin English in it. There's insides jokes. There's a lot of things that are very very specific.

Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lr5IpzuzZhk

[estefan]

I personally think it's wonderful they reached out to Kugali and offered to bring their story to a wider audience.

I was actually thinking not too long ago that African films and series don't seem to get much distribution or attention in North America or Europe. And when they do, they're often about slums or war lords, because I guess those are the only subjects American distributors see as commercial, I don't know. The same holds true for India. The most popular Indian films in India tend to be musicals and fantasy films and yet it's mostly films about poverty that find a significant audience outside of India. Brazil applies here, too. They have such a vibrant culture and make films tackling a variety of subject matters and yet the only Brazilian films to receive any attention in North America and Europe are about slums or government corruption. I saw a really lovely Brazilian film years ago called "The Year My Parents Went On Vacation." It was wonderful, but I never saw anyone talking about it. I discovered it by myself.

So, for once, it must be a pleasure for producers in Africa to have an American studio take interest in a different type of story about Africa. And to have it be the most storied animation studio in the United States? I think it's great Disney Animation got involved with them. I probably would never have heard of Kugali if they hadn't.

[Sotiris]

On June 16, Walt Disney Animation Studios’ (WDAS) Chief Creative Officer Jennifer Lee will join three talented filmmakers from the Pan-African company Kugali—Ziki Nelson, Hamid Ibrahim, and Tolu Olowofoyeku—as well as WDAS VFX Supervisor Marlon West and Head of Story Natalie Nourigat for a sneak peek at the upcoming animated series Iwájú, which is coming to Disney+ in 2022. This conversation will mark the first time, anywhere, that the creative leadership of Kugali and Disney Animation will appear together.

Source: https://d23.com/disney-animation-to-pre ... -festival/

Ziki Nelson, the writer, director and creator of Iwájú’, has signed with Newmation for management. Based on an original concept from Nelson and his Pan-African entertainment company Kugali, Iwájú’ is the first ever African animated comic book series for Disney+. The upcoming series described by Disney as a “first of its kind collaboration” is set in neo-futuristic Lago. The sci-fi project, which is currently in production, will explore themes of class, innocence and challenging the status quo. It is scheduled to debut on the Disney+ streaming platform in 2022.

Source: https://deadline.com/2021/06/iwaju-crea ... 234771613/

In early 2019, Walt Disney Animation Studios chief creative officer Jennifer Lee was scrolling on her phone in bed when a BBC News video about an African comic book company caught her eye. “I keep telling people this and they laugh at me, but we’re going to kick Disney’s ass in Africa,” Hamid Ibrahim, a Nigerian comic book artist who co-founded the company Kugali Media, declared in the video. Lee, who had been pushing to recruit a broader range of storytellers to Disney Animation, was intrigued by both the bravado and the vision. “I was just like, ‘I want to meet those guys,’ ” she says.

Lee ended up going a step further than a meeting — after hearing some of the Kugali founders’ ideas, she greenlighted one for Disney+, a sci-fi series called Iwájú, set in Nigeria and due in 2023, to be written and directed by Kugali co-founder Ziki Nelson. It will be created jointly by the two companies, one the most powerful in media, the other an upstart founded by three friends from Nigeria and Uganda.

Source: https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movie ... 235076391/

[Sotiris]

Articles.

Disney, Africa’s Kugali Reveal First Look at Sci-Fi Series ‘Iwaju’
https://variety.com/2021/streaming/glob ... 234998924/

Annecy: Disney, Africa’s Kugali Reveal a Futuristic Lagos in ‘Iwaju’
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv ... 234969017/

Walt Disney Animation Studios and Kugali Shared First Look Details at “Iwaju” During Annecy Festival
https://www.laughingplace.com/w/article ... -festival/

Iwájú Won’t Be 'Disney-Style' But Promises 'Disney Quality' Animation
https://www.cbr.com/iwaju-disney-style-quality/

Kugali and Competitions: 2021 Annecy Festival – Day Three
https://sodasandpopcorn.ng/kugali-and-c ... day-three/

Iwaju: What we learned from the Annecy session on the Disney-Kugali Series
https://sodasandpopcorn.ng/iwaju-annecy ... li-series/

[blackcauldron85]

there are no "princesses running around Nigeria."

So the girl in the dress is the concept art is not a princess.

And Marlon West us making his own short!!

[BK]

I personally think it's wonderful they reached out to Kugali and offered to bring their story to a wider audience.

I was actually thinking not too long ago that African films and series don't seem to get much distribution or attention in North America or Europe. And when they do, they're often about slums or war lords, because I guess those are the only subjects American distributors see as commercial, I don't know. The same holds true for India. The most popular Indian films in India tend to be musicals and fantasy films and yet it's mostly films about poverty that find a significant audience outside of India. Brazil applies here, too. They have such a vibrant culture and make films tackling a variety of subject matters and yet the only Brazilian films to receive any attention in North America and Europe are about slums or government corruption. I saw a really lovely Brazilian film years ago called "The Year My Parents Went On Vacation." It was wonderful, but I never saw anyone talking about it. I discovered it by myself.

So, for once, it must be a pleasure for producers in Africa to have an American studio take interest in a different type of story about Africa. And to have it be the most storied animation studio in the United States? I think it's great Disney Animation got involved with them. I probably would never have heard of Kugali if they hadn't.

There was that canned Dreamworks movie 'Monkeys of Mumbai' that could've been good. Sad that Larrikins was also canned. The concept art looked great.

Honestly I don't really believe the whole animated excuse that they couldn't get the story to work. With the amount of time and iteration that goes into each one of these films, we're meant to believe they couldn't get a story to work but then were happy to put out Captain Underpants and The Boss Baby etc.?

And that goes for Disney, Pixar and everyone else as well; Cars 2, Good Dinosaur, Incredibles 2, Finding Dory, Monsters Uni, Onward, Frozen 2, Big Hero 6, Ralph Breaks the Internet - all these were worthy to be put out?

[Sotiris]

The series won't be animated at WDAS after all. It seems WDAS' involvement is limited to the following people:

Producer: Christina Chen
Executive Producer: Jennifer Lee
Head of Story: Natalie Nourget
VFX Supervisor: Marlon West

I still don't understand the point or necessity for this "collaboration".

Disney Taps Cinesite to Deliver CGI for ‘Iwájú’
https://www.animationmagazine.net/strea ... for-iwaju/

[D82]

The series won't be animated at WDAS after all. It seems WDAS' involvement is limited to the following people:

Producer: Christina Chen
Executive Producer: Jennifer Lee
Head of Story: Natalie Nourget
VFX Supervisor: Marlon West

To be honest, I prefer it that way. Although, I don't mind this collaboration too much. If it was a full film instead of a series and it was part of the official DAC canon, then I wouldn't be so happy about it.